The first weld on a new human spacecraft in 20 years

Space · Published 17 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Construction has officially begun on NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. This marks a significant milestone in aerospace engineering: the first time in two decades that a new spacecraft designed to carry humans into orbit has been physically assembled.

The welding of the Orion vehicle at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans represents a generational shift in NASA's capabilities. The agency's previous human-rated spacecraft, the space shuttle Endeavour, was completed in 1991. This means that for over 20 years, the United States lacked a new orbital vehicle of this type, highlighting the long development cycles required for human spaceflight hardware. The Orion craft is scheduled for its initial test flight in 2013. During this mission, the unmanned vehicle will orbit the Earth several times. This milestone signifies the start of a new era for NASA's orbital fleet.

While the Orion is being built on Earth, the broader context of joining metals in space is a complex history of experimentation. The first welds in space were performed by Soviet cosmonauts on Soyuz-6 in October 1969. The United States followed suit in 1973, conducting bead-on-plate welding and brazing on the Skylab station. However, the last time a weld was actually performed in open space was in 1984 by Soviet cosmonauts departing a Salyut-7 capsule. The International Space Station has seen research into metal solidification science. However, no actual welds have ever occurred on that station.

Since 1984, research has largely shifted to terrestrial simulations like drop towers and parabolic flights due to the difficulty of the environment. Future goals involve In-space Assembly and Manufacturing (ISAM), a sector projected to reach a value of 10^12 USD within a decade. To succeed, engineers must master welding in extreme conditions, including the vacuum of space, temperatures ranging from 40 to 400 K, and variable gravity—specifically 0.17 on the moon and 0.38 on Mars. The space economy is a nascent sector for these manufacturing processes. NASA is currently working with industry and academia to explore these welding opportunities.

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